


Bitter Dregs

by kelex



Series: Bean There Done That [3]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee Shops, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7888483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will's hospitalization after being wounded in a robbery attempt doesn't quite go without a hitch; Hannibal finds out exactly why he doesn't like Freddie Lounds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitter Dregs

Hannibal had spent most of the last three days worth of spare time checking in on Will Graham. He was doing surprisingly well; they'd been able to take him off the antibiotics because neither the gunshot nor the knife to the shoulder had become infected. 

Off the antibiotics and the morphine, they'd begun weaning him off of all the strong painkillers. So for all intents and purposes, Will was lucid for most of the day. Not the nights; the first night, Dr. Lecter had caught Will trying to pull out his IVs and sleepwalk; they kept him sedated after that, and Hannibal intended to send Will home with a prescription for sleeping pills. Which he was fairly certain the man wouldn't take. 

He helped himself to Will's chart on the tablet; the nice thing about e-charts meant you didn't have to disturb the patient to yank it off the foot of the bed. The door to Will's room was mostly closed, just open enough to allow ventilation. He'd meant to knock as he pushed it open, but that was before the camera flashes.

Creeping quietly around the med cart sitting in the hallway, Hannibal peered into the sliver of room that he could see. 

Freddie Lounds, Will's so-called girlfriend, had pulled the blankets back enough to expose him from neck to knees, and was proceeding to photograph everything. _Everything._ Will seemed to be in the post-morning sluggishness caused by the overnight sedation, and wasn't in any shape to argue on his own behalf. 

Angrily, Hannibal shoved the door open completely, so hard it banged the wall. Freddie jumped guiltily, shoving the camera phone into her purse and clutching it to her chest. Will lifted his head, looking around groggily. "Hannibal? Freddie?" 

"Good morning, Will. Ms. Lounds, I'm afraid I'm going to have to demand your phone." He stood in the doorway, his fury filling the whole room. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was practically daring the woman to refuse.

Freddie kept her purse clutched tightly to her chest. "I'm not going to give you my phone! It's got all my information in it!" 

"It also has photographs, explicit photographs, of Mr. Graham's injuries, which is a gross breach of his privacy, not to mention the hospital's privacy policy. It would also raise liability questions, as to why we could not protect our patient's privacy. Finally, it's unbelievably rude to photograph a man in his state, especially when you are involved with him!" Hannibal drew in a deep breath through his nose, and let it out slowly through his lips. He had not meant to raise his voice. 

Will coughed, taking a small sip of water from the cup on the bedside table. "Freddie?"

"I just took some pictures, in case the insurance has any questions about your treatment," she said, and it was obvious to Hannibal that she was lying. It also occurred to him that she was stalling for time. 

He pushed her back, and tried to pull the purse out of her arms. There was a brief struggle, and he came back victorious. Her phone was on top of everything in there, and when he turned the phone back on, it showed _Upload Complete._ He shook the phone in her face. "Where were the photos uploaded?"

"My Google Photos account! All the photos I take are uploaded there, it's cloud storage to keep my phone storage open."

He tuned out the blathering, and tossed the phone back to Freddie, along with her purse. "Get out, Ms. Lounds. Security will escort you out, and they will make certain you will not return." 

"Will!" Freddie looked around wildly, trying to keep eye contact with him. "He can't--"

"I certainly can," Hannibal butted in. 

Will was rubbing the bridge of his nose, obviously trying to figure out what was going on. "Freddie, you were taking pictures of me?"

"For the insurance," she repeated, and it sounded so weak to Hannibal's infuriated ears. 

Apparently it sounded weak to Will's ears, too, because he gave a negative shake of his head. "The insurance company has never requested photographs of injuries before, only car insurance does things like that." He scrubbed his face again, forcing himself awake and coherent. "Why would you do something like that?"

She bit her lower lip. "For the byline, okay? This story is making news in every newspaper in the city, not that there's that many left. But if I can get a photo and a blurb in one of the papers, then they'll put me on their to-call freelance list, and I need the work, Will, you know that."

"Freddie, all you had to do was ask, okay? I'd have said yes, so long as you didn't flash my junk on the front page." It was obviously exhausting on him dealing with this, and he just waved a hand at her. "Go ahead and get out, and when I'm discharged and feeling better, we'll talk about this."

"O-okay." Her voice trembled a little, but she still clutched her purse and her phone to her chest like they were life preservers. "Goodbye, Will."

Will had a feeling he was never going to see Freddie Lounds again, and he was okay with that. Brian Z was welcome to her, and he wondered if she'd photographed him, too. "Hey, did you take pictures of Bri, too?" 

At Freddie's guilty nod, Will reminded himself to throw Brian a warning phone call before tomorrow's newspapers came out. It didn't even occur to him to think of websites. 

Hannibal stepped out into the hallway just long enough to make a call to security from the nurse's station. He stepped back in the room just in time to hear that she had photographed a second patient, and Hannibal made a note in Will's chart to alert Mr. Zeller and his physician of that fact, so that they too would be ready when the storm happened. 

The silence was awkward and unbearable as they waited for security, but at least it wasn't a very long wait. Two burly men in guard uniforms showed up, and each one put a hand on her shoulder as they escorted her out. Hannibal stepped close to have a word with them. "If you can possibly find a reason to confiscate her phone, that would be quite helpful," he murmured softly, though he didn't expect her to give them the chance.

"Yes, sir." They steered her towards the elevator, and Hannibal put her in the back of his mind as he re-entered Will's room.

Closing the door all the way, Hannibal perched on the edge of the bed, down near Will's feet. "I'm going to make a quick examination of your injuries, just to make sure that she didn't harm your sutures while she was posing you, and then I'm going to take cultures of both sites. It would be just our luck she'd infect you." He shook his head angrily. "Either tonight, or more likely tomorrow, the hospital's attorneys will be by here to speak with you about compensation. You are, of course, well within your rights to litigate."

Will waved it away limply; it was the absolute last thing he wanted to deal with. "I don't care about that, Hannibal, you weren't expecting my now ex-girlfriend to come in here and take private photographs of me with the intent of putting them on the front page of every newspaper in Baltimore," he pointed out. "If you'd even remotely entertained that notion, I'm sure you'd have had a watch out or something." 

Though Will didn't seem to notice he'd let Hannibal's first name slip out, Hannibal certainly did. His chest warmed inside, noting that even in the medicated state he was in, Will appeared to be comfortable with him. Boded well for a rescheduled date. "You are correct, we would have, and will have in the future. However, both you and Mr. Zeller both have serious cases for breach of privacy, and--"

Will reached out, wincing as he strained to sit up enough to touch the back of Hannibal's hand to get his attention. "Tell your lawyers to give me some kind of settlement and I'll take it, just to get it over with. I don't blame you guys, but I know how it is, you've got to take care of it and have some kind of document saying that I don't blame you and I won't sue. Well, I'm not going to." 

"You are not in your right mind at the moment, Will," Hannibal reminded gently. "Under the influence of pain medication, you are in no way legally responsible for making your own decisions. I would like to suggest that you obtain legal counsel, for yourself, and I would suggest Mr. Zeller do the same. I would recommend Mr. Tobias Budge, for he is my attorney as well and I would trust him to negotiate fairly for you. If you'd like, I can arrange for him to come by this evening and set a firm appointment for tomorrow with our legal staff?"

Will gave in gracefully. "Thank you, that would be kind of you." He just didn't have it in him argue further.

"You're quite welcome." Hannibal's chest was almost bursting with pride at being able to help take care of Will in this way. "I'll call him right away, I'm certain he'll be glad to come." 

The physical examination itself was quick; Hannibal was pleased to note that Will's injuries didn't seem any worse the wear for Freddie's photographic intrusion, and though he did take cultures from both areas, he was relatively certain that the prophylactic antibiotics were still in full swing in Will's bloodstream. Mainly it was a reason to get close and reassure himself that he'd suffered no ill effects at Ms. Lounds' hands.

By the time Hannibal was ready to leave, Will was dozing again. He let himself stroke Will's hair gently, more familiarly than he normally might've. When he was finished with the examinations and notations in his chart, Hannibal took himself straight to the on-call room, where he could make a phone call. 

"Budge and Associates." 

"Yes, this is Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and I am a client of Mr. Budge. I'd like to arrange for him to represent a patient at the hospital. I'll be personally responsible for the consultation fee, of course, and the hospital will pay any other costs as part of the settlement."

The secretary noted the details, and took Hannibal's number down. "Mr. Budge is in probate until after three; I have an hour opening at four, would that be acceptable?"

"Certainly, thank you." They exchanged further pertinent information, including Will's name, and a quick outline of the information, and Hannibal's credit card information. 

Once that was taken care of, Hannibal used his smartphone to negotiate the online telephone directory until he found the address of Ms. Frederica Lounds. On the way out of the on-call room, Hannibal picked up an extra box of purple nitrile gloves, just in case. 

DNA was such a complication to deal with.


End file.
